Car Crashes Into Longview Shelter

It was a frightening scene at an East Texas homeless shelter, as an out of control driver crashes through the building's walls. The crash happened around 9:00 p.m. Friday night when police say a possible intoxicated driver crashed into the House of Hope shelter located on Highway 80 in Longview. The driver then fled on foot.

"He got out, and I was going to see if he was ok and he just kept on walking, and I went chasing after him," said crash witness Whitney Holcumb. Police say they found alcohol containers inside the car. There were women in the shelter just minutes before the crash, but a premonition overtook one of them.

"All of the sudden, I just felt like I really needed to get out of the building and go and, so I got up to leave and asked sister Helen are you coming with me and she said 'yeah I'll be right after you', so she just left the building," said shelter worker Tina Mclane.

"I was gone about 10 minutes, and I got a phone call that some car had run through the building wall and into my office," said shelter director Helen Johnson. Several women were shaken by the crash, having been in the room several times before the crash.

"They're shaken, but they're going to be fine," said Johnson. Nearby Hiway 80 Rescue Mission opened up part of their center to house the women temporarily, but another problem faces the center. The accident knocked out electricity, and they need to prepare around 75 meals a day.

"At this point, we've lost all of our cold storage food everything, milk, eggs, bread, bacon sausages all our breakfast food," said Johnson. All of our food is provided by the community.

If you would like to help House of Hope, you can drop food donations off at the shelter. At this time, the shelter says it's not sure when the building will be repaired.